Koster

(Bonfire), a monthly children’s magazine of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, the Central Council of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, and the Writers’ Union of the USSR. Koster was created in 1936 on A. M. Gorky’s initiative. It is published in Leningrad. During the blockade of the city (1942-44), 15’issues of Koster appeared; the magazine was not published from 1947 through June 1956.

Contributors to Koster included S. la. Marshak, V. V. Bianki, lu. P. German, M. M. Zoshchenko, V. A. Kaverin, L. Panteleev, L. S. Savel’ev, O. F. Berggol’ts, E. L. Shvarts, I. I. Sladkov, lu. G. Tomin, D. I. Kharms, and E. I. Charushin. Such artists as B. N. Belomlinskii, lu. A. Vasnetsov, V. I. Konashevich, A. V. Lebedev, and A. F. Pakhomov worked for the magazine.

Koster publishes prose and poetry for children; materials on the life of Soviet Pioneers and schoolchildren and children abroad; surveys of the correspondence between Soviet and foreign schoolchildren; features on art, physical culture, and sports; humorous stories; and color illustrations. Circulation, 600,000 (1973).